updated 03:55 pm EDT, Fri September 17, 2010

Microsoft thinks Kinect will outsell iPad

Microsoft Game Studios manager Kudo Tsunoda set up an unofficial battle between Apple and Microsoft with an argument today that Kinect will beat the iPad for sales. Following good pre-orders, the former Fight Night developer said to Gamasutra that the Xbox 360 motion controller's holiday sales would "blow away" those of the iPad. He cited NPD data that the Xbox was already outselling the PS3 and Wii as evidence that Kinect is likely to surge when it becomes available on November 4.

The add-on's ability to lure buyers isn't certain. Although the controller is much less expensive than an iPad at $150, it also needs an Xbox 360 and represents a subset of the gaming audience. Buying a complete set from the start requires $299 for an Xbox 360 Arcade as well as $50 for every game beyond the one bundled title. Apple is more expensive at first, but most iPad games cost less than $20.

Neither device directly competes with each other, but Microsoft has been counting on Kinect to become the halo Christmas gift of the year and likely hopes to indirectly give Windows tablets a better chance by partly muting the attention given to Apple's tablet.

I suspect

There is a virtual taxi stand of managers at MS ready for their big chance to career down Media Boulevard to predict the next big Thing That Kills Apple. They then crash and burn like a midtown taxi and nothing ever happens differently. Zune. Kin. Windows Phone. IE. Bob. Windows 1, 3, ME, 95, 9, XP, Vista, 7... When in fact, it's the ecosystem that survives while they take aim at individual species. Hard to keep track of the metaphors? Sure. Also hard to keep track of their strained comparisons.

What's the next prediction - that ArcMouse will trounce Airport Extreme sales?

This Microsoft product doesn't

compete against the iPad, so what's he braying about. Why does he even mention the iPad since hard-core gamers don't consider the iPad a gaming device? I doubt if a Xbox 360 accessory is going to blunt sales of the iPad. Are businesses going to use this Kinect and an Xbox 360 to show product demonstrations to their clients? Jeez, it isn't even a mobile device.

Hubris, by definition

Their sure is a lot of anti-Apple trash talk coming from Redmond these days. First it was all the talk about "Developers, Developers, Developers" followed by the talk of new Windows tablets on the eve the iPad announcement. Then it was Windows Phone Series 7 killing the iPhone during that juvenile campus pep rally just last week and now we hear that a copycat Xbox motion accessory is gonna' outsell the iPad.

That's certainly a lot of hubris from a company so inept that it unleashed MS-DOS, "Plug-and-Play," the ill-conceived .Net security initiative, Windows 1.0 through 3.0, Microsoft Bob and Windows Vista and Windows 7 (really Windows Vista 6.5 rebranded) and the "Blue Screen of Death." This same company also birthed the Xbox "Red Ring of Death," the proprietary (and ill-conceived) Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video formats, the Zune and Kin, the Danger Sidekick data loss, Microsoft (retail) Stores, and of course the biggest fumble of all — millions of computer viruses and malware on personal computers across the globe.

So, I have to ask, "Why do these trash-talking imitators believe anyone would even think of trusting this empty company with next-generation cell phones, gaming and HDTV systems?"

Some folks in Redmond still don't get it (yes I mean you Mr. Ballmer). You are in for a rude awakening: the Microsoft era is over. Maybe Ballmer should ship a modern product that actually changes the world, (or at least works) before he unleashes any more adolescent, middle-level managers to rip into Apple.

Another reactionary statement...

M$ is trying desperately to find a way to get a spin on the positive sales that Apple has been experiencing the past few years.

After M$ had to get rid of their mobile phone (months on the market) and Zune is a chump compared to the iPod/iPad universe, they are looking for any reason to crow a bit and rally the troops.

So, yes the Kinect will sell well. It's in a different market silo than iPad. But this is a classic example of comparing Apples to, well, Oranges.

They are competing on soooo many fronts - Apple on the OS/iPod/iPad and next/gen device front, Android, iOs, and others on the mobile front, Linux on the OS front, Logitech, and others on the peripheral front, and Nintendo/Sony on the game front. They are just trying to find something to crow about that isn't related to selling Halo or Windows 7.

Great strategy

"Microsoft has been counting on Kinect to become the halo Christmas gift of the year and likely hopes to indirectly give Windows tablets a better chance by partly muting the attention given to Apple's tablet."

I like this reasoning. It is so ... indirect! And I think it captures the Microsoft campaign so well.

See, first ... um we will confuse them. And then ... we will sell something else! And ... you'll see! Blow-away sales! Yess!!!!!!

iPad on your TV via HDMI

An HDMI Dock (not using any VGA to DVI adapter and converter box) for the iPad and a wireless game controller and it's game over for microsoft this holiday season. $50 a game for the xBox or $0-10 a game for the iPad.

A motion controller, huh????

What is this fool comparing a motion controller to the iPad for?
The iPad isn't a motion controller. This doesn't make any sense.
And I for one don't give a c***. Oh and Xbox does something else the iPad doesn't do.
Fail 6 plus times for melt downs because the hardware is c*** too!
I think we will all be better if we stay away from the Xbox and its crappy motion controllers.
Probably would get a virus buying them anyways!

It's the only way they can find to spread their FU

By comparing oranges to Apples... They're hoping that the general public isn't smart enough to realize it's an invalid comparison.

Otherwise, it's a desperate gamble to try and attack the success of the iPad.

And if Monkey Boy is right about how Apple is just a niche player and doesn't have any effect on the overall success of Monoposoft as a company, why is he so obsessed with attacking Apple's products every chance they get, in every way possible, even this invalid comparison?

For internal consumption only

Will it Sell?

The XBox has established itself as a console for "the gamers". It is the console to get to play Halo. It is the console for those with quick fingers who like to immerse themselves in 1st person shooters and sports games. Do these gamers want a Wii type controller? Or, do they prefer the tight control a game pad type controller gives them? Does getting a Kinnect make playing Halo better?

The Kinect (as others have pointed out) is not competing against the iPad, but the Wii console. The Wii and the Kinect are both $150, but the Kinect also needs a $200 XBox to connect to. Will the type of gamer who likes the Wii console want to pay more than twice as much for the Kinect/XBox system?

I don't know if the Kinect will be a big hit or not. That depends upon Microsoft being able to get game manufacturers to make compelling games for the XBox and to convince the consumer it is worth paying the extra $150 to play those games.

Has Anyone Else Noticed ...

Newsflash

Newsflash: "Stupid Comment by Microsoft Employee generates huge traffic on Apple related websites!" - An object lesson in how to convert stupidity into ca$h. Is this not what Microsoft have been doing for twenty years?